"If you don’t want to become a demon, you must be extremely cautious in suppressing your own Dao cultivation constantly, using mana to suppress the contamination within the Yin God... Besides, every now and then, you must circulate your cultivation technique, trying to resolve the Yin essence within the Yin God... As if your body were a bodhi tree, and your heart a mirror stand, always diligently wiped clean, to not let it gather dust..."
Zhong Shenxiu let out a profound sigh.
He knew that the path of the Yin God Achievement Method had reached a dead end.
To actively suppress one’s own Dao cultivation and mana, not even daring to gather mana to its peak, how then could one speak of courageously making progress and breaking through the next realm?
He silently scrapped this plan.
"Teacher, to be able to defeat me, a Yin God Venerable, with Returning Elixir Power, truly demonstrates profound cultivation and astonishing mana..."
Xu Guo, however, didn’t take it seriously, but rather offered a compliment.
In the Seven Luminaries Heaven, for a cultivator to cross a major realm and defeat an enemy was impossible.
Yet here, he had accepted it!
After all, for Ancient Method Cultivators to cross a major realm and defeat an enemy was a mark of genius.
Those Heavenly Mountain Seven Swords, Shushan’s Double Stars, for instance, with their top-notch talents and practicing the most profound cultivation techniques, wielding extraordinary flying swords, have always been about Refining Qi Killing Condensing Evil, Condensing Evil and Refining Gang, daring to sword-slay a Golden Core Monster in the Refining Gang Realm, creating a sensation throughout the world.
Although most of the Golden Cores they slew were second-rate and weaklings.
Speaking of which, Xu Guo was quite similar, although he had broken through the realm, he lacked the refined and transformed mana, his foundations were weak, having taken shortcuts and crooked paths, after the breakthrough, wasn’t he just ?
"Do you... not regret it?"
"To have cultivated the Yin God, obtaining thousands of years of life span, greatly advancing my cultivation and mana, what more could I not be content with?"
Xu Guo knelt on the ground, kowtowing eight times, "I thank Teacher for bestowing upon me this fortune."
In fact, the life span of a Primordial Spirit might far exceed thousands of years, but unfortunately, Xu Guo only managed to break through halfway and then reached a dead end.
Furthermore, every now and then he had to practice to refine the Yin essence, which also consumed a lot.
Thus, he could only obtain such a life span.
’But when said out loud, who knows how many Golden Core Monsters it would make envious to death...’
’However... although theoretically possessing a life span of thousands of years, if Xu Guo himself cannot maintain control over his Dao Heart, and the Yin God falls into demonic ways... it becomes hard to tell...’
Nevertheless, it still counted as a fortune.
Moreover, if it got out, it would be even more sensational than the Outer Path Golden Core Method.
Alas... Xu Guo already had spiritual thought restrictions in place, the Yin God Achievement Method was not to be disseminated.
Shenxiu did not wish to create a bunch of Yin God Venerables who might one day join forces against him; that would be too absurd.
"With your current mana comparable to that of a Returning Elixir Ancestor, and still room for improvement... like going on to practice those spells only the Ancient Primordial Spirits could, as long as you refine a few, self-protection will be more than sufficient."
Shenxiu found that this Xu Guo was indeed a lightweight, like a fattened pig rushed to market, wholly lacking in substance and experience.
He even felt that if it came to a real fight, he might not even beat some first-grade Golden Cores, true inheritors of the Daoist path, and what a huge embarrassment that would be.
Therefore, Shenxiu continued to admonish: "That Heavenly Ding Sect was specifically left for you by Teacher, and Xu Yuan only seized his Golden Core, the person may not yet be dead, left for you to settle this karma. However, life is full of many insurmountable troubles, unable to satisfy grievances; for instance, if you encounter an enemy you can never defeat, what will you do then?"
Xu Guo wore a confused face as he hesitated and said, "Please enlighten me, Master!"
"Very well, I will teach you one last lesson, known as ’It’s not about outmatching mana, but outdoing in the Dao’s practice’... You have now achieved Yin God and can live for thousands of years, whereas even the Returning Elixir Old Monster is, after all, just at the Golden Core Realm, with a lifespan of no more than a thousand years... If you can’t defeat them, just hide. When the enemy dies of old age, you can still bully his disciples and descendants, or even dance on his grave... This is the path of clinging to life for longevity!"
After Zhong Shenxiu finished speaking, he burst into hearty laughter and said, "Our fate ends here. Let’s part ways! Remember, you owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing."
After saying this, he used the Five Elements Heavenly Escape, turning into a streak of flowing light and disappeared without a trace.
Xu Guo, the dignified Yin God Venerable, actually couldn’t catch up and could only sigh helplessly, looking at his daughter, "Xin’er... let’s go back."
Xu Xin’er was startled, "Go back where?"
"Heavenly Ding Sect, Xu Family!" Xu Guo’s eyes were determined, "Some debts must be reclaimed, and even though the Heavenly Ding Sect has a Returning Elixir Ancestor, I can first collect the Xu Family’s debts... As for the Heavenly Ding Sect, hehe... That Returning Elixir Ancestor is already eight hundred years old, and it seems his lifespan isn’t that long. Wait another hundred years or so, and perhaps the Heavenly Ding Sect will have to bow down to our family."
"It’s just... with the strict orders from the master, I am not allowed to pass on the proper cultivation technique to you!"
Xu Guo stroked his daughter’s head, filled with regret.
Originally, he thought that the Heterodox Golden Core Method was a quick and easy path to success, albeit with a sense of crookedness and deviation. Therefore, when he saw that his master had passed on the "Jade Liquid Returning Elixir Scripture" to his daughter, he was secretly happy for her.
But now, his thoughts had completely turned around.
The ancient method may be the orthodox path, but just the step of Golden Core formation alone was enough to obstruct many geniuses.
The chances of breakthrough with the Outer Elixir Method were much higher than forming a Golden Core.
Furthermore, there was the follow-up Yin God Achievement Method! It was a method not at all inferior to the Golden Core Nine Revolutions, with a lifespan far exceeding it, truly a leap to the heavens in one step!
Alas, he was bound by his master’s spiritual mind prohibition and truly couldn’t help his daughter.
And looking at his daughter’s aptitude, it had taken her over a decade to just barely achieve Condensing Evil. The risks and hardships in reaching Great Success of Gang Refining and then forming the Golden Core in the future were still unknown.
At this thought, Xu Guo couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.
High above in the sky.
Zhong Shenxiu chose to fly northward.
"The achievement of Yin God is indeed a complete failure... This also let me know, using the Outer Elixir as a firewall may shield from the contamination of heaven and earth, but the demonic taint of the Outer Elixir is unavoidable... To force the True Spirit into it, isn’t that suicide?"
"The Outer Elixir may refine into Yin God, but it will never refine into a Yang God!"
"Now, perhaps I should start with the cultivator themselves... Humans have three souls and seven spirits, what are souls and spirits, and where do Primordial Spirits come from?"
Years ago, after discovering the major flaw in the Yin God Achievement Method, Zhong Shenxiu had been silently pondering this question.
Seeking to use the Outer Elixir to successfully cultivate the Primordial Spirit being thwarted, he naturally turned to focus on the cultivator themselves.
By researching the relationship between the three souls and seven spirits, he attempted to find a second breakthrough path for the Primordial Spirit.
And at this moment, he had some clues, but still lacked sufficient data and deduction.
"Speaking of studying souls and spirits, of course, the people of the Demon Sects are the most adept at it..."
"Among the five great powers, the Wuji Demon Sect is the largest Demon Sect, while the Western Regions Great Snow Mountain is more inclined toward the heterodox path. It also secretly harbors many demon heads..."